Last Chance Jess
by mctangelo
Summary: Rory Gilmore is having a baby with one of her ex boyfriends, but everyone including Rory and the father are surprised to find out which one.
1. Chapter 1

"And how far along is it?" Rory Gilmore looks at the tiny screen in the doctor's office. She at an apple a week ago and when the test came up positive, she found herself making an emergency appointment

 _"False positives happen all the time."_ She thought to herself as she dialed the number in a panic. _"How could this happen? I'm careful, I'm always careful. Plus, he's getting married. I can't be. It would ruin everything."_ It was the first time they weren't fully protected. It had been a few weeks since she called it off over the phone and with no hopes of intimacy any time soon, Rory had been a little less than zealous about her pills. But she had only missed a few days, and it was in the heat of the moment. Shouldn't she get a pass for that?

The Hartford gynecologist looked over from the sonogram screen. "You're about eight weeks pregnant." She looks down at her clipboard. "All looks well with the baby, I'm sure your husband will be thrilled."

"Yeah. Thrilled." It wasn't possible.

Rory Gilmore, 32 years old, unemployed, living at home. Pregnant.

On the bench outside the doctor's office Rory was flipping through her calendar, trying to figure out a way to explain her situation to her mother. _"I could buy an apartment in Stars Hollow and tell her that I've been trying to have a baby through Paris's clinic."_ She wasn't sure that Lorelai would buy the sperm donor story at 8 weeks along. She flipped through the calendar on her phone trying to figure out when she would've been able to get away 8 weeks ago and be inseminated.

Something wasn't adding up.

8 weeks ago was a month before Logan surprised her in Stars Hollow.

 **Previously**

Rory Gilmore was in the middle of prepping the layout for the fall edition of the Stars Hollow Gazette. She wanted to have the final lay out ready by the morning and it was already 11 at night. Her two geriatric employees retired at 6 so it was just Rory alone in the office.

The coffee pot broke earlier that week when Esther knocked it over trying to find her glasses. She was dying but determined.

Picking up her phone in distress she dialed the diner, knowing that it was probably closed. A familiar voice picked up. "I'm at the paper, I need coffee." She could here the voice breathe heavily in exasperation on the other end of the line.

" _I'm trying to sleep here."_

"Please."

The voice reluctantly agreed.

A few minutes later there was a rapping at the door, and a figure armed with two cups of coffee and a bag of donuts barged into the office.

"Why don't you just go home and pick up in the morning? Its not like Taylor is going to care whether the paper is 2 or 10 pages long, as long as you don't skip the poem." Jess plopped himself onto the chair across from Rory's desk and flung the donuts and coffee down. "That would be the end of the world."

"I know, but this is my chance to really revamp this paper. You know, do something different."

"You work really hard to not get paid."

Rory was exhausted. She gulped down the coffee and grabbed a donut. "I think I might need more."

"Did you actually think one of these cups was for me?"

She smiled and went back to her task. Jess stared at her for a long moment. "So how much more do you have to do?"

"Only the last page." She said bending over the large table where all the article clippings were laid out. She was having trouble getting Doyle's review of Suicide Squad (he called it a triumph and that it "got everything right that Nolan got wrong") and Miss Patty's gossip column to fit in with Al's half page ad for 50% off all Indonesian desserts.

Jess got up and walked around to the front of Rory's desk. He grabbed the bottle of scotch from the bottom right drawer. "I think its about time for a celebration then." He poured two glasses.

Rory slurped down the rest of her coffee, cutting out Doyle's review. _'I'll just throw it up on the website for him.'_

"Come look at it, I think I'm done." Jess walked over and nodded, handing her a glass. "Scotch and donuts, my favorite combination."

"You're gonna die at 40." Jess walked back over to his chair. "Have you given any more thought to that novel?"

Rory pulled up a chair next to him. "I've outlined to the first five chapters."

"You move fast Gilmore." He gulped down the rest of his drink and poured another.

"Will you read it?"

"The outline?"

"Yeah, to make sure my continuity works and stuff."

"Depends. Am I in it?"

"Yes. I was going to ask you first but you did give me the idea."

"How could I pass up a chance to read about myself then?"

Rory got up to retrieve the outline while Jess poured her another drink. She brought it back over and dropped the outline in his lap. "Now I did change the names, and its not perfect but its where I have to start." Nervously, she slurped down her fresh scotch and poured another.

Two more scotches each and 10 minutes later Jess finished scoping through the outline. "Did your grandparents really try to force marriage on your mom?"

"It was how it was done in the old days."

"Geez." Jess poured another drink, took a shot, and poured some more.

"What did you think?"

"You have a really nice foundation here Gilmore."

Rory was feeling a little tipsy. "You know you were probably the best."

"The best what? Ghosting expert?"

"No matter what happened, how shitty you were, how stupid and naïve I was, you always encouraged me. If it wasn't for you I would've never gone back to school, I would've married Logan when he asked, and now I would be one of those DAR housewives."

"I am pretty wonderful. But seriously, you didn't need me. You would've figured it out."

"You got me there faster. I still wonder what would've happened if I had picked you that night when your book was released. Or if I ran away with you when you asked me to."

"We would've had a whirlwind romance and broken up as quickly as we got together."

"No…"

"We were young, I was stupid. And we didn't want the same thing." Jess poured another glass.

"Why didn't you have another serious relationship?"

"Like I said, nothing stuck."

Rory leaned her head back put her feet on the desk. "Do you think you'd ever want to get married?"

"You know, there's only ever been one person that has even made consider settling down. But she isn't ready to settle."

"Must be a hell of a woman."

Jess looked at Rory for a long moment with her head back and her eyes closed. She was still that 16-year-old he saw sitting at the diner with her mother a life time ago. "She really is."

"You think she'll come back?"

"I'm not one for sentimentality – "

"I'm shocked." She tilted her head up to look at him, those blue eyes piercing his soul in the dimly lit newsroom.

"Yeah yeah… I'm not one for sentimentality – and you know that – but," He stared intently at her, "I would be willing to wait for this girl forever."

Rory Gilmore was drunk on sugar and whiskey. And blame it on the alcohol, but in that moment she found herself, wrapped up in a life time of what ifs, leaning into her ex boyfriend. The moment their lips touched, she was 17 and they were in the alley behind Gypsy's. It felt right. It felt like youth, it felt like she could start her whole life over. A life where she never thought to drop out of Yale, where her grandfather was still alive, where Logan Huntzberger wasn't engaged to someone else. A life where maybe Jess never left to find himself, maybe she did run away with him, and they were on the road living the life foretold in beat poetry together. She would've never fallen in love with Logan and her heart would never be broken.

They fell together like no time had passed, it was a religious concoction of scotch and unrequited attraction finally exploding. It was the full devotion Rory had never felt with Logan or Paul and that Jess had never felt with the one-night college girls that had become his taste.

They didn't even seem to care when the condom broke. Well Jess didn't. Rory just didn't realize.

They lied there in the heat of their passion, Jess completely content. Maybe this was the start, his chance to redeem himself with Rory.

Rory sat up and started to put her clothes on. "If only Logan was like you." She put on her shoes. "I'm sorry for waking you up."

"…. Its no problem." He muttered as she began to clean up, he quickly got dressed and left without a word.

Rory shrugged.

 **The Gilmore House, day before the wedding**

"You're completely over it?" Luke asked Jess.

"Oh yeah, for a long time." He wasn't over it.

It had about two months since that night with Rory and Jess still had dreams of it every night. But at the end of every dream Logan would show up and whisk Rory away as she laughed at him. She had brushed it off so casually, a drunken tryst.

They had talked about it, she apologized, he agreed it was wrong.

Luke walked back inside as Jess picked up his duffel bag. He knew that she was never going to love him again, because when she did he ruined it over and over again. She started to leave the house but his desire caught him off guard. _"One last look."_ He thought too himself. He walked over to the window, there she was, giggling with Kirk and Lorelai. She would never love him again and he knew he now needed to accept that.

 **Now**

It was a mistake. A stupid drunken mistake.

That's what Rory thought as she drove. She didn't even really know where she was driving.

 _"It's not like he even cares about me. I haven't seen him in four years, whatever we had has been over for a long time. Plu,s I can't ruin his life with this, its complicated enough without adding the 'hey so I have a kid with my high school ex girlfriend that I had a one night stand with 15 years after we broke up' to his resume."_

The night of the act was still fuzzy to her. She remembered the main points, but most of the detail and all of the conversation was gone. _"If only I could remember what happened."_ The morning after she had woken up in the newsroom on two chairs, Jess was gone. They both agreed it was a mistake.

While Rory was convincing herself that she could do this on her own, she found herself at her dad's office. She cried in her car for an hour before going in.

 **After the wedding**

It was beautiful.

Lorelai and Rory sat drinking champagne on the steps of the gazebo. Well Lorelai drank, Rory poured it into the grass every time Lorelai looked away. Her mother was so happy, she was glowing.

Rory couldn't concentrate. As her mom talked she realized she couldn't take the secrecy any longer. She and her mom didn't keep secrets. Rory didn't know what she was going to tell her but she knew she had to say something.

"Mom."

"Yeah?"

"I'm pregnant." Lorelai looked over at her shocked. She sat there for what felt like forever, couldn't finding the words to say.

"You're pregnant?"

"Yeah."

"How?"

"The normal way, birds and bees. When a mommy and a daddy love each other very much – "

"I know how it happens, obviously. But what I mean is… oh my god… Rory," she began to look somehow terrified and disappointed at once, "Rory, is it Logan's?"

Rory looked at her shoes. Tears began to well in her eyes, she could barely talk so she whispered. "No."

Lorelai, now confused, stared into space. "Then who's it? Please don't tell me is Percy's."

Rory began to laugh through the tears "Its Paul, and no, its not his."

"Then what? Did you have a 3 night stand with the wookie? Are you in Paris's army of surrogates and its actually the baby of some guy from West Virginia and is 65 year old wife?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"I had a baby at sixteen who grew up and went to Yale. I am a lifetime movie. You could tell me you're having a baby with Taylor and I would believe you."

"Its Jess."

"Nooooo…" she moaned incredulously.

"Could you please not tell anybody?"

"Rory… this is… I don't even know what this is."

Rory bit her lip and wiped away her tears. "I have to go." She got up to leave.

"And where are you going to go?"

"I have to… I have to do something really quick." Rory ran down the street. She ran until she couldn't anymore. When she finally stopped she found herself in front of the most terrifying house on the block.

Rory ran up the sunflower yellow steps and banged on the orange door. She banged for what felt like hours when TJ answered. "Rory, chill out. You're gonna wake up Doula."

"TJ, is Jess here?"

"Well yeah but he's been up all night with these bad dreams. So I wouldn't wake him if I were you." TJ's accent made even grammatically correct sentences sound unintelligible.

Rory walked inside and straightened her dress and hair before heading to the living room where Jess would be sleeping. She barely knew what she was doing, as she moved into the living room she felt drunk. She felt as if she was moving but not by choice, like autopilot.

She looked at him while he slept for a few moments. His hair was shaggy and he hadn't shaved in days. He looked old, older than when she met him at least, but still had that mystery. Finally she nudged him. Groggily, he opened one eye. "Rory?"

"We need to talk."

"Why?" He sat up, his tshirt twisted around his frame, hair hanging like curtains around his face.

"What happened? You know, that night. At the gazette."

"You know what happened. I brought you coffee, things escalated, you told me you wished Logan was like me, I left. It was a mistake." The word mistake hurt her.

"I talked about Logan?"

"It seemed like you wouldn't stop talking about him."

"Did anything else happen? Anything with protection. Like was it used?"

"What is this, shawshank?"

"Jess."

"The condom broke, but you knew that. I asked if you wanted to stop, and you giggled and through it across the room."

"Shit."

"Language! My little sister will be up any minute."

"Jess."

"Yes Bob Woodward?"

Rory tried to make the words come out, she just looked at him in all his early morning grumpiness, and started crying. She sat on the coffee table and sobbed in her hands. Completely awake by the sight of a crying girl in his parent's living room, Jess moved to comfort her. Rory just pushed him away. "Rory. What's going on? You can't just barge in here at – what – seven in the morning, wake me up, and start crying."

Rory couldn't speak, she just sobbed.

"You want some coffee? I'm gonna make some coffee."

"No." Rory squeaked. "I can't."

Jess was standing in the doorway to the kitchen now "What do you mean you can't? You can always do –" Jess looked over at Rory who was holding her stomach and sobbing.

Rory realized he had stopped talking and looked up at his stunned face. "Jess."

"Oh my god." He didn't know what to say, he turned and walked into the kitchen.

"Jess! Please!" Rory ran toward him. He turned to her.

"Logan must be a very happy man." He turned back and began to move away from her.

"Jess –"

"Why did you tell me this? Was it to rub it in my face? Look at me, I'm Rory, I had sex with you out of pity and now I'm having another man's baby but I'm going to build suspense when I tell you because he's getting married and the condom broke."

"Jess – "

"No, you know what Rory, I can't do this anymore. I waited for you for 15 years. As much as I tried to move on I couldn't because every girl I dated was nothing compared to the Great Rory Gilmore. And now this. Thank you because this made it a lot easier."

Rory stood there, unable to look up, shaking and defeated "I'm moving to Queens…"

"Good. Just stay out of Boston." Rory ran out of the house.

 **A few weeks later**

With Christopher's words about the unstoppable force that was Lorelai and Rory's relationship, as well Jess's words, she began to pack up. She had found a steady job writing for a tabloid and an apartment in Queens that Christopher agreed to help her with until she fully got on her feet. Rory felt a renewed sense of purpose because it was no longer just her future at stake.

She hadn't bothered talking to Logan and had barely left the house in avoidance of Jess, Luke graciously offering to go to the diner when they wanted to meet.

Her mother's happiness didn't make her plight any easier but Rory tried to stay out of the newlywed's way to avoid bringing them down. She wasn't even sure if she could bring her mother down. In addition to the new marriage, Lorelai had thrown herself into going through boxes of Rory's old baby clothes and taking trips to buy new ones. One thing Rory wouldn't be short on was baby clothes whether it was a boy or girl, between what Lorelai had and what Sookie and Lane brought over.

"Are you sure you don't want to just stay here? Just for the first year so you have help." They would ask.

"I have to do this away from Stars Hollow." She would answer.

Rory Gilmore, Yale Graduate, Award Winning Journalist, Single Mother. She almost felt like she could pull it off.

Rory had all her boxes packed and was heading to Queen in the morning. She had a nice dinner with her mom and Luke and her Grandmother was coming up in the morning to help her move in. Emily was still alarmed that she was becoming a great grandmother.

After dinner, Luke excused himself so he could go check on the diner. Cesar was supposed to leave early that night. Only an hour after letting Cesar off, he closed up. But before he could lock the door his nephew, who was supposed to be in Boston, barged in. "Jess."

"Hi."

"Why are you here?" Luke vocalized, visibly angry.

"I have business in town. Can I crash upstairs?"

"She's leaving in the morning."

"Who?"

"You know who."

"Hmph… good riddance."

"You shouldn't be talking about her like that. What's gotten in to you?"

"What's gotten in to me? That girl strung me along and then metaphorically punched me in the gut when she told me she was pregnant. She was rubbing it in my face."

"How could she rub it in your face? She had no job, no place to live, and on top of that she's having a baby and you just pushed her away. She's struggling and yet she's still moving to New York because she keeps a sliver of hope that maybe things can be like they were a year ago."

"So Logan went back to his beautiful bride then?"

"What are you talking about. Logan has nothing to do with this."

"He's the father so I'm pretty sure he has a lot to do with it."

Luke's face softened to concern "You don't know."

Jess was still raring to go "Know what? I know all I need to."

"Jess – Logan isn't the father of Rory's baby." This took Jess by surprise.

He began to stiffen, realizing exactly what he was about to find out, what he was too stupid to see weeks ago when Rory tried to tell him.

He looked up at looked, he couldn't decide whether to be terrified or excited. "Then who is?"

"You are." Before he could finish his words, Jess was out the door. He had ruined his last shot with Rory, but maybe, just maybe, he could have a second chance with his child.


	2. Chapter 2

Jess Mariano ran through the streets of Stars Hollow on a cold mid December night, jacket in hand but with only a t-shirt shielding him from the cold. He didn't care. All he could think about at that moment was mending what would soon become the most important relationship of his entire life.

As he rounded the corner and the ancient Jeep came into view, he found himself determined but still unable to approach the house. He leaned against the mail box, catching his breath and trying to contemplate how to approach the subject. He didn't even know if Rory would want him in their baby's life and how could he possibly deny her anything she wanted after how he treated her, how he treated them.

The second story light flickered on, Luke had probably called Lorelai, the curtain moved and the light flicked off again. Soon enough a furious Lorelai Gilmore came running out the door in puppy pajamas and bare feet; unfortunately, it wasn't the Lorelai Gilmore Jess was intent on seeing. He could see her flailing around her pointer finger as Paul Anka followed closely behind, but he couldn't hear her over the flood of thoughts that encapsulated his brain.

"How dare you show up here? In the middle of the night before she's supposed to leave of all times. You had your chance to be in this baby's life and you didn't want it, all you did was yell at her; talking about how she was "stringing you along" and how it was now easy to get over her. Unfortunately, its not going to be that easy for her to get over you now. Why is she always getting over you Jess? Just when she's getting it all together you just show up and ruin everything! Why do you always do that Jess?" Lorelai was on the edge of tears in motherly rage.

"Hey! I didn't know!" He snapped out of his daze.

"She was in your mother's house telling you she was pregnant! She was crying! You, know I never pegged you as stupid, but how could you not figure it out? - "

"BECAUSE SHE BROKE MY HEART!" Jess interrupted.

"So you yelled at the mother of your child? What kind of response is that Jess?"

"Our night together, she brushed it off like it was nothing!" Jess's voice dripped with venom "She found me the next day and made me swear that it was a mistake and then she never mentioned it again. I thought that maybe it meant something, anything, that maybe she still cared about me but it turned out that she didn't. All she cared about was Logan."

"So you just had to pin it on Logan and hurt her back!" Lorelai's face was beet red and you could see the steam coming from her ears.

"I thought it WAS Logan's."

"She never even mentioned Logan!"

"Not when she told me, but when the little nugget was conceived, that was all she'd talk about. Hey! Maybe she'll just name the baby Logan, after her lost love, it works for a boy or a girl!" Jess raved in anger. All he wanted was to see the mother of his child, see his child. What he got was the angry grandmother, who seemed to want to continually punish him for a mistake he was dying to fix.

Lorelai softened "It's a boy."

"A boy." Jess stopped. A boy, a beautiful baby boy, Rory's little baby boy. He would have her eyes, and his smile. Jess broke down, collapsing against the mail box. His eyes streamed with tears but Lorelai had never seen him smile that big in the whole time she knew him. He was inconsolable but Lorelai tried anyways. In the back of her mind she didn't know why she was trying, but was also thankful that at least Jess wasn't trying to get Rory to marry him.

"Jess." Lorelai knelt down over the sniveling mess that used to be the town bad boy. "Jess, come inside, you're going to freeze to death."

She could see him laugh under the mess of matted hair. "I'm going to freeze? You're not wearing shoes Ms. Gilmore."

Lorelai felt a wash of motherly love come over her. "Its Mrs. Danes to you. Come on." She pulled him up and they walked inside, shivering, together.

Once inside, she sat him down on the couch, wrapping him in a blanket and ran up to get a pair of socks. She selected the ones with little purple palm trees, when she came down Jess Mariano began to redeem himself as he had begun to make a fresh pot of coffee. "I figured this would make you like me a bit more than you do at the current moment." He remarked.

"Oh its going to take a lot more than coffee to convince me." She walked over to the top cabinet by the fridge and pulled out a box of strawberry Poptarts.

"What's with all the apples?" Jess asked notice a large bowl of juicy red fruit on the kitchen table "Like I know Luke is healthy but I thought after 9 years with you he'd learn to hid the fruit."

"Its Rory's cravings. I had the same one when I was pregnant with her." Lorelai rolled her eyes and laid the Poptarts out on a plate. "And you can't have any because I'm mad at you."

"When will you not be?" Jess scoffed.

"If this one goes to Harvard then you're off the hook."

"At least there's a light at the end of the tunnel." The pot flicked off and Jess poured two piping hot cups. He handed one to Lorelai.

"Ah just like Luke's." She mentioned as she took a sip.

"What can I say, he told me the secret to good coffee."

"No fair. He won't tell me and we're legally bound now." Lorelai pouted a bit.

"So…" Jess nodded his head towards Rory's door, "What do you think the odds are she'll actually see me?"

"About 20%. 30% if you hide upstairs and I warn her first."

"She hates me that much."

"She doesn't hate you Jess. She's just really really mad. She's so mad that it feels like she hates me sometimes even though I know that she just hates you."

"I thought she didn't hate me."

"Yeah, I can't actually tell. She's a mean pregnant lady. The other day she yelled at Kirk because he brought her one of those kind of pink apples and not the snow white evil queen poison red ones."

"Jeez, maybe I should just wait until the kid comes out."

"She's going to be even meaner then."

"Yeah?"

"Oh yeah. You and I would've been good friends before I became a mother."

"Still moving to Queens?"

"Yeah, I tried to convince her to stay but you know Rory." Lorelai looked towards her door. She seemed saddened. "I really would like her to stay, so I could see him regularly but I don't think Rory could handle staying in Stars Hollow forever."

"Lorelai?"

"Yeah Jess?" She replied without looking at him.

"I do love her."

"I know you do. But she doesn't need you to love her. She just needs you to be there for her."

"And Lorelai?"

"Yeah Jess?"

"Can you just ask her to see me before she leaves?"

"Yeah Jess."

 **The next morning**

Jess woke up on the couch above the diner. There hadn't been any beds in the apartment for a decade, not since Luke moved in with Lorelai. But the sofa that had a decade on Jess was still there. He stretched his back and picked up the book from the coffee table, Howl by Allen Ginsberg, he started it again the previous night.

The first time Jess began to fall in love with Rory was over that book. He was seventeen, angry, and new in town. She was sixteen and full of so much hope. She was probably going to Harvard and, well, he was probably going to Juvie. But in that one moment where she offered to loan him the book and he offered to skip out, he knew Rory Gilmore was something special. "What is much?" He muttered to himself as he flipped through the thin book. He had probably read it a thousand times, but none ever quite had the same magic as it did when he read her copy.

Jess put the book down and got up from the couch. He thought about calling Dean for advice, they weren't exactly close but Dean did have 3 kids and another on the way. Jess didn't know how to be a dad; he didn't even really know how to have a dad. He could support the kid, the publishing company was doing well enough, they had a couple minor bestsellers in the indie circles. But he felt that Rory's child deserves better than anything Jess could possibly give him. Jess would buy the best stroller on the market but Rory's son deserves one made out of solid gold and handcrafted in Saudi Arabia. Rory's son deserved the entire world because he would be perfect. He's going to be perfect.

Jess checked his phone for a message from Lorelai but there was none. He should have figured that she wouldn't want to see him anyways. He put on boots and went downstairs to see if Luke would give him a few strips of bacon on the house.

He came down to an empty diner, which was odd at 8:30 on a Wednesday. Luke wasn't even in. Jess figured he could help himself.

Halfway through making a fresh pot of coffee, he heard the door open. "Hey man, I don't even know if we're open but I think its safe to assume we're not because I'm not making you food." He said without turning around.

"Can you pour me a cup? Decaf."

Jess spun around to see Rory Gilmore standing in the middle of the diner. It sounds cliché but she really was glowing. "Yeah, yeah." He stammered.

"Thanks." She sat down at the counter and he poured her cup. Her hair was draped in soft locks around her face and even wearing a faded Yale t-shirt and no makeup, she looked as if she could be going to a ball. "I don't have very long; we have to get on the road."

"That's fine. I'm just happy you were willing to see me." He breathed heavily, scared of what she would say.

"Jess, listen."

"I'm all ears. Literally. I will get plastic surgery to replace all my other body parts with ears." He talked fast, faster than usual.

She laughed. "Jess. I want you to be in his life."

"I want that too. More than anything."

"It would be unfair to keep him from his father, especially considering how we both grew up. But I don't want you to think this means I want a relationship with you."

"Trust me, I wasn't about to get down on one knee."

"No, I mean, outside of what concerns our son, I don't want any sort of relationship with you. We are not friends. We can be friendly, but only for him. After how you treated me… I won't be hurt like that again… not by you. And as for the living situations – "

"Yeah actually I've been thinking, about leaving the company. I can get a great job with another publishing firm in Manhattan, I know I don't have a degree or anything but I've been doing this for over a decade, I'm published, and I have a lot of friends in the business. I talked to them last night, several are willing to give me a reference or even give me a job in New York. And I could live in Brooklyn, so that way I'm not even in your neighborhood and you don't have to randomly bump into me."

"Jess, I can't let you just uproot your life like that. I was thinking that you could come up and see him any time you want and take him every other holiday. Except Christmas which I thought we could come together in Stars Hollow because your family is here and my family is here and it might be nice that he didn't have to bounce around every Christmas."

"Rory, this is my life now. What I have in Boston is a business full of 20 something's I barely know, a half empty apartment I've had for almost 5 years, and a social life consisting of trying to impress Harvard co-eds with my wit before they realize I'm 33 with no formal education, and a book that barely sold 50,000 copies."

"Jess…"

"Please Rory, at least in New York I'll have him. And not having to bounce him between state lines will make the first couple years easier. And while you're pregnant, if you have a craving, you can still call me up at 2 in the morning and I'll bring you evil queen poison apples you like."

"Evil Queen poison apples?"

"Your mother described them like that."

"Ah." She relented. "Okay, and you can live in Queens. Its cheaper than Brooklyn anyways. But no co-eds around my son."

"No co-eds. And on that note, I hate bringing this up but… is Logan still around?"

"Oh my god Jess!" She threw her hands up "Of course Logan isn't around! Do you think I'd really have my child around my married ex boyfriend?"

"Okay okay, just thought I'd ask. So he actually went through with the whole marriage thing?"

"Last week, in Rome. It was beautiful, he sent me pictures." She rolled her eyes and then stared into her coffee cup.

"That's rough."

"It's not like I loved him or anything." She sniffled. "We had an arrangement. And even if he hadn't gotten married, its not like we could keep that arrangement with my current situation."

"Yeah… But look on the bright side, your mom still wasn't as pissed at me as she was that time I crashed your car."

"You broke my wrist."

"I got you pregnant."

"True." Jess thought he saw Rory crack a smile.

"We're going to have a baby."

"A real human being."

"That screams and poops and will have, as Luke calls them, "chronic jam hands.""

"No jam in the house."

"Agreed."

"Or honey."

"Or Poptarts."

"No fair."

"Keep them on a high shelf at least."

"I'll relent."

"A little boy." Jess looked at Rory staring into her untouched cup of decaffeinated coffee and for the first time in a very long time he felt completely happy.

"Jess?"

"Yeah?" Rory looked up at him.

"You're going to be a really good dad."

"You're going to be a really good mom." He heard a honking outside as a u-haul driven by two dark haired women rolled up.

"I guess they're here. Oh and Luke asked me to tell you to run the shop until Cesar gets here. He's following behind in the truck." She got up and slung her purse of her shoulder.

As she turned to leave Jess had a thought. "Hey Rory!"

She turned back to him, he could see the outline of the belly she was developing through her t-shirt. "Can I suggest a middle name?"

"Only if I get final veto powers."

"William."

"Hmm… William." She smiled to herself. "I like that."


	3. Chapter 3

"Rory, come with me. You don't need someone like him, he's nothing, he has nothing. All he's ever been good at is reading and he can't even be successful at that." Logan Huntzberger wore tails and white gloves. He was beautiful, ethereal.

Rory wouldn't stop looking at him. "I know Logan, I was only with him because I couldn't be with you. Look at him, he's pathetic." She looked down at Jess, fire in her eyes, venom on her lips. "You're pathetic and I will never love you." This made Logan's eyes sparkle and he took her into his arms.

"I love you Rory."

"I love you Logan."

Logan looked over at Jess, who was lying on the ground, unable to move. The two of them appeared to be twenty feet tall above him. "And I'm taking your baby too. I'm going to raise little Logan Jr as a Huntzberger."

Rory threw her head back and laughed. "Can you believe I almost agreed to that ridiculous middle name? William, how sweet." She spoke as if she lived in a dickens novel.

"I thought what we had was special!" Jess called out. "Rory, I love you."

Rory continued to laugh. She leaned into Jess's face. "How could you think this was special. Jess, you mean nothing to me." She waltzed over to a cradle and picked up a raven haired little boy. "Now if you'll excuse me, Logan and I are going to the Cape for holiday and I need to back."

The family glided off through the moonlit doors of the Stars Hollow Gazette.

Jess woke up in a sweat. He was on the couch in Luke's old apartment, an old copy of Great Expectations on his chest. The apartment was dusty and there were boxes everywhere as Jess was staying her for a few weeks while he shopped for apartments in New York. It wasn't difficult to pack up because the only things he bothered to unpack over the last five years was a few boxes of clothes and books.

His nightmare was still the same; it was the night at the Gazette, Jess can't move, and Logan shows up to whisk Rory away as they laugh at him. It had a new twist ever since he found out about the baby though.

It was mid January; Jess hadn't seen Rory in about a month but they talked every day. Mostly about the baby, but also about life, books, and apples. She wouldn't stop talking about apples. While staying in Stars Hollow, Jess had met up with Dean a couple times to air his frustrations about becoming a father. Rory laughed at him because she never though he would go to Dean Forester for advice. The day Jess called him out of the blue, Dean couldn't believe it either.

 **Late December**

"Hi." Jess sat down at a table across from an old enemy.

"Hi." Dean gave an awkward smile. He and his family were in town for Christmas and when Jess called asking to talk, Dean didn't really want to meet. However, he did feel the need to get out of the house what with, 3 boys under the age of seven, a heavily pregnant wife, and his sister's boyfriend all under the same roof. "So… this is weird."

"Super weird." Jess looked down at his coffee because it felt more awkward the longer he tried to make eye contact.

"Why am I here?"

"I need advice."

"You need advice?"

"Yes."

"The Great Jess Mariano needs advice?"

"Yes."

"Mr. I've never needed anything in my whole life because I'm brooding and cool needs advice."

"Yes Dean. I need advice and somehow the fates aligned and you're just the perfect person to give it to me." Jess was getting annoyed. He knew he had to chill because Dean was the only person he knew who knew how to be a good and sensible father to an infant.

"Alright." Dean chuckled, this was everything he would've dreamed of 15 years ago. "What advice can I give you?"

"I assume you've heard Rory's pregnant."

"Yeah my mom called me about 5 seconds after she found out, which was 5 minutes after Miss Patty found out, which was about 15 minutes after Lorelai found out."

Dean could still barely believe it; what he couldn't believe more is that the townspeople had yet to figure out who the dad was. Dean also kind of wanted to know, she wasn't seeing anyone as far as he knew. "So let me guess. You found out she was pregnant, realized that you were still in love with her but that its now hopeless because she's having a baby, which would cramp your style, and you want to know from the king of getting over Rory how to get over Rory."

Jess frowned. "Not exactly."

"Then why did you want to talk to me? To rub it in my face that she's having someone else's baby because, newsflash, I have like 4 kids with my gorgeous wonderful very pregnant wife."

"Jesus, Dean. Do you really think I'm still that petty?"

"I'm just trying to figure out why you wanted to chat."

"Because…." Jess leaned in close so no one else would hear. "Because its my baby. And I haven't the faintest idea about how to be a good dad, and you're a good dad so I thought maybe you could…. Give me advice…"

Dean began to laugh. "Oh my god I can't believe this. How did it happen?"

"You have four kids; how do you think it happened?"

"No I mean, Rory, how did THAT happen?"

"She was at the paper, I brought her coffee, then we got drunk and it happened. Listen, we both thought it was a one-time thing, especially after she made it very clear that it was a one-time thing. And then she showed up at my house crying and told me she was pregnant. I thought it was Logan's so I was an asshole, then I apologized and now she's going to let me see my son. Oh yeah, it's a boy."

Dean raised his glass. "Good luck man."

Jess actually let out a chuckle. "Thanks. But I never really had a dad, I don't know anyone who has raised an infant except TJ and I'm not about to ask him for parenting advice because I'm pretty sure the phrase "clowns make great babysitters" will be involved."

"I see why you called.

Dean's face softened and he got candid "Listen man, there's no one way to be a good dad. Its messy, and sometimes you get mad, and sometimes you don't discipline them they way you should. You think you're doing it right and then freaking Gwyneth Paltrow posts on her blog that everything you thought you were doing right actually causes your kid to get lice more often and suddenly you're only feeding them kale and organic homemade fish sticks and then the next week it turns out that that was wrong too. The best thing you can do is just let him know how much you love him and let him know often." He paused. "My kids are the loves of my life. And raising them is hard, its very very hard, but I wouldn't trade this life for anything in the world."

"Wow… I think I actually respect you." Jess laughed, he was thankful. "But seriously man, thank you. Do you think I could call you from time to time?"

Dean smiled, it had been a decade and a half and finally they had something to connect over. "Yeah, that would be okay."

"Okay well I've gotta be in the city in a few hours to look for apartments so I'm going to head to the bus."

"Oh yeah. It was nice seeing you." Dean got up and shook Jess's hand. "I've gotta get back to Jenny and the kids. Oh by the way, congratulations."

"Thanks, you too." Dean flashed a smile and headed out the door.

 **Mid-January**

It had been almost a month since Rory moved back to the city and being a pregnant New York journalist was not nearly as fun as it sounded. Thankfully her new tabloid job let her work from home most of the time. She hated writing for tabloids, there was never anything interesting to write about when all you report on is speculation. But it paid the bills and she couldn't exactly do hard hitting human interest stories where you have to adventure and get down into the crevices of society with her ever expanding, non-crevice compatible belly. And despite what Christopher and Jess were constantly saying and following her art, she had to have a job that would pay the bills and that she could sometimes work from home at so she can actually take care of the baby.

Rory sat down at her computer, her latest article was about who had the worst post baby beach body: Tori Spelling or Selma Hayek. These days she wrote under a pseudonym as to not tarnish her reputation, Sylvia Forster. She looked as the terrible paparazzi pictures and winced. _"I hope no one will take any pictures of me like this after I give birth. I'm just never going to wear a bikini again."_ All she needed was 1000 words on post-baby bikini bodies and she didn't know how to start.

 _"The miracle of life… no… having a baby is a wonderful thing but these former beauties' little ones have wrecked their svelte frames. This is disgusting. I'm disgusting. I make a living body shaming other women."_ After her first couple articles, she seriously considered her dad's offer to pay for the apartment indefinitely but she knew she couldn't live with that as the example she was setting.

She almost called Paris. Since she moved back, Rory had been babysitting Paris and Doyle's kids a lot to make some extra money and to get a feel for how to be a mom. Instead she walked over to the little kitchen to grab a yogurt. It was non-fat vanilla. For a couple weeks she ate like a normal Rory but then Luke came to visit. He was appalled that she would eat pizza and pop tarts on a regular basis. "I eat a lot of apples!" She would protest. One day she came home and her kitchen was completely restocked with healthy choices and now Jess comes up once a week to make sure it stays that way.

Jess's friend got him a job as an editor for St. Martin's Press so now he was just looking for the perfect place to live. Finding a semi-affordable two-bedroom place in New York is like looking for the white whale. He had narrowed down a couple options however, one in Queens, one in Brooklyn. He was leaning towards Queens because it would be closer to Rory and the baby but now it was just a matter of getting it.

He had called the realtor and put in an offer but it had already been about a week. He was beginning to get nervous because this place was his absolute best bet.

"Maybe I can convince her to come back to Stars Hollow." He mentioned to Luke after closing the diner one day.

"That's never gonna happen."

"Why not?"

"Because if the forces that are Lorelai and Emily Gilmore couldn't get her to stay, no one is."

"Or I could see if I could stay with her in New York for awhile."

"Also never gonna happen."

"Why?" Jess was frustrated by pretty much everything that had been going on for the last month.

"The only reason you two still talk to each other is because of the kid. Also you'd probably do something stupid like tell her you love her."

"I do love her."

"Yeah but she doesn't love you and it would be stupid to tell her while renting out the couch for a couple months."

The entire situation was nothing he expected. He'd always hoped he'd have a kid some day. He'd always hoped it would be with Rory. But he thought they'd at least be a couple, not a drunken fling that she won't stop saying she regrets. He didn't understand how she could regret it because not loving him was one thing but regretting it because of the baby was different. Maybe she regretted it because it was Jess's baby and not Logan's. That was a dark thought that kept penetrating Jess's mind. He tried not to think about those things.

"I'm gonna go up and read for a bit. Hey when do you think is too early to read Candide to a kid?"

"Any time before college."

Jess nodded and stomped upstairs. _"Will I have to get rid of my Megadeath shirt when he's born? What about Metallica?"_ Learning how to have kids was an exhausting process, especially when it's mother decides to get up and move 4 months into the pregnancy and isn't there to tell you what shirts you can wear around babies.

He sat down on the couch and picked up the copy of "What to Expect when you're Expecting" from the coffee table. If anyone knew he was reading this it would be the end of him but Dean said it actually helped him when he was having his first kid.

"Ew, you get hemorrhoids when you're pregnant?" He closed the book, that one bit of information was enough for the night. So far he had learned about hemorrhoids, vaginal tearing, and that the kid was about the size of a cantaloupe now. He was just glad to be the dad and not the one pushing it out.

His phone buzzed. "Hi there is this Mr. Jess Mariano?"

"This is him."

"Great…" The woman's voice sounded syrupy and fake. "This is Karen Watson from Early Morning Realtors, I'm happy to tell you that Mrs. Janine Von Sternberg has accepted you offer for her apartment in Queens New York."

"I got the apartment." Jess stood up quickly.

"Yes sir that is correct."

"I GOT THE PLACE! Thank you Katherine."

"Yes sir, I will email you the information you will need for the finalizations. Have a wonderful night." She hung up. Jess was, for lack of a better word, stoked. It was perfect, two bedrooms, a large bath with a tub, and a kitchen that Sookie couldn't turn her nose up at.

He dialed Rory. "Rory." His voice shaking with excitement.

"Jess. Its late." She sounded tired.

"I got the apartment."

She perked up. "The one is Queens?"

"The one in Queens."

"Oh my god that's amazing! Uh congratulations!"

"We're going to be a family."

Jess felt like he could hear her smile over the phone. "Yeah we are."

"Did I wake you up?"

"Oh no… I, um, was reading… researching for this new piece."

"Okay, I'll um… I'll let you know."

I truth Rory wasn't researching. She had just gotten off the phone with Logan and she had been crying. He still didn't know about her pregnancy and asked if she had changed her mind about ending their arrangement. She didn't. She asked if he planned to stay married. He did.

Rory finally broke. The last couple months had been exhausting and she didn't have time to think between moving, the baby, her job, and the novel. She never had a second to even think about getting over Logan and then he got married. She picked up her phone and blocked his number.

She only had four months left to grow up. It was time to move on.


	4. Chapter 4

February had been a long month for Rory Gilmore. She hated her tabloid job, she hated that Jess was still making her eat vegetables, she had writer's block, and she was 6 and a half months pregnant and quickly losing the ability to tie her own shoes.

Jess had taken up residence on the couch part time after his offer to help her out when she needed turned from an every week thing to an every day thing. He made her breakfast, tied her shoes, and even took her shopping for new pants when she finally had to break down and get maternity wear. She had managed to get away with sweatpants and leggings for 2 weeks before Jess realized that her last pair of stretchy material slacks had gotten too small.

Rory hated that she was so dependent on him. He had a more demanding job than she did, all she did was sit at home and write speculative headlines about celebrities. Yet, ever since he moved to the city, Jess had probably only seen his own apartment a few times. It was bigger than hers, and had a much bigger nursery. The spare bedroom at her place was about the size of a large linen closet, it might actually be a large linen closet.

Rory was alone all the time, the only person she saw regularly was Jess and he was still at work 12 hours out of the day, saying he didn't want to start working from home until the baby gets here because he didn't want his boss to think he wasn't part of the team.

She was itching to get out of the house. It was 8 am on a Saturday, she should be out getting breakfast with the girls or shopping, at least getting breakfast with Jess. She was anxious. She thought about going on a run to get the energy out and then she thought about how much her pregnancy boobs would hurt after about a block. She wasn't even sure you were allowed to run when six months pregnant, they didn't cover that chapter in _What to Expect when you're Expecting_. She sat down to knit, a hobby Paris taught her while she was pregnant, Rory hadn't used the skill in the 5 years since though.

She couldn't figure how to cast on, at one point she was just sort of tying the yarn into knots to get it to stick on the needle. _"If I'm trying to make a baby hat, how many loops do you need? Like 20?"_

There was a knock on the door. Rory hurried over.

"Jess, I told you I'm fine. Look I'm even wearing slip- Mom?"

Lorelai Gilmore stood there in a pink wool coat and a beanie with bear ears. She offered a big grin and held the biggest cup of coffee Rory had ever seen. "Hello!" She barged through the door and threw a floral duffel bag on the couch.

"What are you doing here?" Rory was incredulous.

"What? Can't I see my own daughter and grand-bump?" Lorelai scrunched up her nose and turned to the kitchen. Her face fell. "I see vegetables. Rory, why do I see vegetables?"

"Oh that. Jess has become a little Luke clone and is trying to make me eat healthy."

Lorelai scoffed. "The shame! Where are the pop tarts? The toaster strudel, fruit roll ups, left over Chinese food? These are all things a healthy growing bump needs!"

"Tell that to Jess and his ever growing collection of pregnancy and parenting books. I swear he has 5 different editions of _What to Expect_ alone."

"Well Jess has never been pregnant. We've HAVE to get you decent food while I'm here." Lorelai moved with the energy of a thousand toddlers and seemed to make the whole apartment brighter with every step and sway.

"How long are you going to be here exactly."

"I haven't really decided yet, a few days." She flopped down on the couch and threw her feet on top of the duffel. "Renovations started on the new inn, so there's not much to do, I left Michel in charge. He's itching for the over time because him and Fredric got approved for the little girl from Japan. Apparently Japanese babies are very in vogue these days."

"Isn't that a little racist?" Rory interjected.

"Imagine it though, the cynical Frenchman, his Canadian husband, and their Japanese daughter. They're thinking of naming her Angelique. I can't wait. Anyways, there was nothing to do so I thought I'd surprise you."

"That's actually really nice." Rory had come down from her shock and realized that this is exactly what she needed. "Do you want to get breakfast?"

Lorelai flashed her signature devilish grin. "I'd love to."

The pair waltzed down the street to the little breakfast place by Rory's apartment. Rory was glowing from her new found company, also starving. "Ooh, since you can't have coffee I'm gonna buy you a fresh squeezed lemonade. It'll be like you're little again." Lorelai squeeled.

"I can't have fresh squeezed juice."

"But it's the best juice."

"I can't have it."

"Why not?"

"Its bad for the baby."

"Which baby? That baby?" She pointed to a little girl in a stroller across the street.

"No, you." Rory teased.

Lorelai gave her a sarcastic pouty face.

"You're not supposed to have non-pasteurized or "fresh squeezed" juices." Rory continued.

"And who said that?"

"A parenting book."

"Which parenting book?"

"That Jenny McCarthy one."

"You're listening to Jenny McCarthy's parenting advice? She basically single handedly restarted smallpox."

"I don't know. I was reading it for an article and that part really freaked me out."

Lorelai gave her the side eye. "You're still gonna vaccinate the kid right?"

"Oh yeah, I'm not insane." Rory flipped her hair out of her eyes. "Okay so this place has the best pancakes I've ever had."

"Oooh don't tell Luke that."

"It'll be our little secret." She rolled her eyes.

"Do they have coffee?" Lorelai asked still holding her previous coffee cup.

"Would I come if they didn't?"

"I don't know, I thought you couldn't have caffeine."

"I can have 12 ounces a day. I usually wake up at 6 am so I reach my limit by about 6:20 every day."

"That's fair."

"Anyways, best pancakes."


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys, sorry for the delay regarding posting a new chapter. Its been a pretty insane few weeks for me. I have decided to drop out of school for a semester and move back home to figure out the whole life thing. But whats weird for me is good for you because it means I'll be posting more often.

Rory and Lorelai Gilmore approached the small café, with supposedly great coffee. Lorelai didn't quite buy it. She had been drinking coffee for almost half a century and no one's coffee was as good as Luke's, in fact he had such great coffee she married him. ' _Til coffee drought do we part._

They sat down on these awful little iron chairs outside the café, they looked like something Emily would've had on her porch around the time Rory was conceived. She really should call her mother; she had gotten all funny ever since she adopted her maid's family.

Rory ordered 2 cups of coffee, one small and one large, and two scones. "This place's coffee is not as good as Luke's I refuse to believe it."

"I didn't say it was as good, I said it was better."

"Also what happened to 12 ounces by 6:30 am?"

"Jess found my stash."

Lorelai gasped. "How dare he?!"

The girl behind the counter handed Rory the goods and Rory handed the larger cup to her mother. "Anyways, I was thinking shopping today. I know this great little boutique that sells adorable onesi-"

"Oh my god!" Lorelai screamed.

"What?"

"This is the best coffee I've ever had. Who makes this coffee?" She interrogated the girl behind the counter.

"Mrs. Kuryanoskova does, every morning. Grinds the beans and everything."

"Tell Mrs. Cornucopia that I need her secret."

"Its not a secret if I tell you." The girl was becoming frightened.

"Then tell Miss Cornandcopies that I would like to extend my hand in marriage."

"But she's married to Mr. Kuryanoskova."

"And so are you." Rory looked at her mother.

"I'm not married to Mr. Kuryanoscotia."

"I mean your married."

"I would divorce Luke for this coffee."

"I would sell my baby for this coffee."

"I would sell you for this coffee. And grand bump. Speaking of which have you come up with a name yet."

They had begun to leave the shop.

"I have."

"You have?"

"Yes, but don't try to get it out of me, it's a secret."

"Elvis Costello Jr?"

"No."

"Machiavelli."

"You can pronounce Machiavelli but you called Mrs. Kuryanoskova Mrs. Cornucopia?"

"Oh my god! you're naming him Lorelai." She exclaimed.

"I am not naming my son Lorelai."

"Lorelai William the fourth. I can see it now."

"I haven't settled on William and I'm pretty sure I'd be sentencing him to a life of ridicule if I named my son Lorelai. But you're not getting it out of me. No how no way. Jess couldn't do it, Grandma couldn't do it, not even Paris could make me talk."

"Ooooh that's serious. I'm pretty sure she convinced Joe Biden to give her the nuclear codes one time."

"That's a tall tale. It was just President Obama's personal phone so she could voice her complaints to him in the most direct way. He blocked her number after the first 40 calls and I think it made her turn into a Libertarian."

"Paris as a Libertarian makes a lot of sense."

"I can see it."

"Anyways. Cute boutique. Baby clothes. Little slippers that look like tacos."

"You had me at tacos."

Jess loved his new job. He was a proof reader, which was great with the baby because it meant he could work from home when the kid arrived.

His boss was a woman named Linda Mayberry. She had a sweet name that reminded Jess of the holidays, but she was far from sweet. She was your typical career woman, hardened from decades of working in an environment that favors men. At 5 foot 2 and 110 pounds, she commanded a room with all the authority and power of the President combined with a tiger. And boy, she made Jess feel things.

Like fear and respect. But also a sort of primal attraction he never thought he'd feel for a post menopausal woman. Maybe it was the fact that he had knocked up one of his friends, maybe it was the stress, maybe it was that he hadn't gotten any since August but Jess constantly found himself fantasizing about Linda, or has he was to call her, Ms. Mayberry.

He didn't know what to do around her. He had always been a smooth talker around women, the only one to ever make him falter was Rory and he usually ended up expressing that by being an ass. But Linda turned him into a puddle. He was all "yes ma'am and no ma'am." He showed her the kind of respect that he usually only reserved for Luke and the cops.

He was sitting in his small cubicle daydreaming when he heard the soft yet demanding voice. "Mr. Mariano can I see you in my office?" It was phrased like a question but sounded more like an order.

He looked up to see the small fair haired woman looking in on him. He quaked internally. "Um… yes. Yes Ms. Mayberry." He got up sheepishly and followed her down the line of cubicles to the corner office, he could sense his coworkers observing him out of the corners of their eyes.

When they entered the large office, he could smell lavender and scotch. "Mr. Mariano I have noticed you this last month." She remarked as she sat in the large leather chair behind the desk.

"You've noticed me."

"Yes, you're a very talented editor. You have a certain knack for story flow that many of your associates don't." Her voice was aristocratic.

"Well I'm also an author-"

"I know. The Subsect, published by Truncheon books. I've never heard of the publishing house."

"Yeah, it folded a few years after that book was published. I followed Chris, on of the owners, to my last job in Boston afterwards."

"You had a very good job in Boston, why leave?"

"I'm having a baby."

"A baby?"

"A boy."

"I didn't know you were married."

"I'm not."

"Long term girlfriend I presume then. Moved up here to be closer to her?"

"Actually no, not that either. Well she was my girlfriend. But it was a long time ago, more like just an old friend now."

"That you got pregnant."

"Correct."

"What is this, I'm sure charming," she swallowed "woman's name?"

"Uh… Rory. Rory Gilmore."

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Gilmore? As in Richard Gilmore."

"Her grandfather."

"I was so sad to hear about his passing. We met years ago at a benefit to fight against whale hunting in the East China Sea, he was an absolutely brilliant man. And that wife of his, what a fireball, I've never liked a common upper class housewife so much."

"Yes," Jess winced. "We all think very highly of Emily."

"I should give her a call. Ask to meet for lunch. I'm sure she'd love to here about how I employ the father of her great grandson. Do you know if she still eats carbs?"

"I don't Ms. Mayberry."

"Well you should ask Rachel to find out."

"Rory."

"Anyways," She got up from her desk to check the large calendar on her wall. "Are you interested after 9pm on the 22nd of March."

"I believe so."

"Great." She was over to him and pulled out a stack of forms. "I'm interested in pursuing a physical relationship with you. Fill out these forms and send them to HR letting them know in advance that this is a casual consensual relationship. That is if you do consent. Do you?"

Jess stuttered and nodded furiously. He was shocked at Ms. Mayberry's confident forwardness. She touched his face. "And grow out the mustache. It works on you."

Jess felt butterflies in his stomach. He was nervous, but also excited and intrigued. "Yes Ms. Mayberry."

He began to walk out the door. "And Mr. Mariano?" He swung around. "Would you please congratulate Romy on baby. Give your address to my secretary and I'll send over a gift."

"Thank you Ms. Mayberry. I think Rory will like that."


End file.
